Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Chris Grayling MP, the government minister responsible for Welfare Reform, has made clear in a recent reply sent to me via Damian Green’s office that, except for “the most severely disabled”, welfare support will be severely cutback or withdrawn altogether. This begs the question what is a serious disability? Under the new ESA rules a person with no hands was recently told by a government disability assessor that he could take a job stacking shelves because he could use his stumps to lift; this is not anecdotal and is just one of many examples of how humane and compassionate treatment of the sick and disabled appears to be a thing of the past. Is this really the kind of society we want to live in?